when nightline began in march of 1980, you did not have the letterman show yet on cbs. they would be run some old and trauma, but among the three programs, but tonight show, the cop drama, and nightline we had 70% of homes watching television at 11:00 at night. these days they are lucky to have 25%. that is what happened because what you did not have 35 years ago was cable, satellite the internet, and all of those things have diluted the importance and the reach of the network. >> maybe twilight is too soft. >> you still have evening newscasts. among the three of them, i suspect we have between 15 million and 20 million viewers. it was 50 million. cronkite alone probably have about 20 million people. >> that certainly is true. the responsibilities of journalism to democracy and to our society. i want you to talk about about a little bit more. i want you to explain why there is this connection between the flow of news and a vibrant society. >> if the american voting public is ignorant of the issue, is uninformed, how can it make intelligent decisions? it is bad enough th